Yellow Dog

Yellow Dog Territory!
Rookery: Smart Dog

September 17, 2001

THE pRESIDENT: I just remember, all I'm doing is remembering when I was a kid I remember that they used to put out there in the old west, a wanted poster.  It said:  "Wanted, Dead or Alive."  All I want and America wants him brought to justice.  That's what we want.

Uh, Huh.

March 13, 2003

THE pRESIDENT: We haven't heard much from him.  And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure.  And, again, I don't know where he is.  I  --  I'll repeat what I said.  I truly am not that concerned about him.  I know he is on the run.  I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country.  I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

Today, October 29, 2004...

5:53 P.M. EDT. THE pRESIDENT: Earlier today I was informed of the tape that is now being analyzed by America's intelligence community. Let me make this very clear: Americans will not be intimidated or influenced by an enemy of our country. I'm sure Senator Kerry agrees with this.

I also want to say to the American people that we're at war with these terrorists and I am confident that we will prevail.

That's it?

Dear Mr. Bush:

You are a failure.

Sincerely,

The Yellow Dog

Surging violence and missing explosives in Iraq:
--400 tons of explosives disappeared from Iraq's Al-Qaqaa military installation (Mayor Giuliani blamed the troops)
--Insurgents slaughtered 11 Iraqi soldiers, beheading one, then shooting the others execution-style.
--Two more U.S. soldiers were killed — one in a car bombing in Baghdad, and the other in an ambush near Balad, 40 miles north of the capital. More than 1,100 U.S. service members have died since Bush launched the Iraq war in March 2003.
--A new survey of deaths in Iraqi households estimates that as many as 100,000 more people may have died throughout the country in the 18 months since the U.S.-led invasion than would be expected based on the death rate before the war.
--Bush plans to send Congress a request of up to $75 billion early next year for additional money to finance wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and operations against terrorism, congressional aides said earlier this week. That's on top of $215 billion that lawmakers have provided since 2001 to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan and begin rebuilding those countries.

The FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded no-bid military contracts to Halliburton Co., formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.

The Bush campaign acknowledged Thursday that it had doctored a photograph used in a television commercial to remove the president and the podium where he was standing and add more people to the audience to make it look like there was a bigger crowd present.

Dishonesty. Incompetence. The headline should read "Lack of Critical Thinking Dogs Bush Voters."


Yahoo! News - Bad News Dogs Bush As Election Nears

"The dogs on Main Street howl `cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister I ain't a boy no I'm a man
And I believe in a promised land"
--Bruce Springsteen, "Promised Land"

The Boss joined Kerry on the campaign trail today, and they were joined by an enthusiastic crowd of 80,000 people in WI who want to take this country back! Here's what Springsteen had to say: "I am here today to stand alongside Senator Kerry and say that the country we carry in our hearts is waiting, and together we can move America towards its deepest ideals."

While Springsteen and Kerry were spreading a positive message for working people, Bush was doing some howling of his own. But he did take some time out of his busy schedule to do some campaigning for Kerry and had this to say in one stump speech:

"A president needs to get all of the facts before jumping to politically motivated conclusions."

Yeah, exactly. Such as getting all of the facts about WMDs and reasons for going to war before, say, actually going to war (instead of conveniently changing the rationale "after the facts").

Five days left: "No retreat, no surrender!"


Yahoo! News - Springsteen brings out 80,000 to cheer Kerry

There are all kinds of wild theories starting to float around about what happened to the 380 tons of explosives in Iraq--the Russians snuck in and took them... they are an imaginary figment of the biased press... the U.N. hauled them out back in March of 2003 to embarrass Bush... they were looted by Iraqi insurgents... Ted Koppel smuggled them out in his suspiciously huge army helmet (his head is big, but it's not that big)... Saddam sold them before crawling into his hidey hole... blah blah blah. Those theories are total bunk.

I donned a tinfoil hat (shiny side out!), and crafted a conspiracy theory which is startlingly simple and obvious. All I had to do is find the dots, then make the connections.

Dot #1: 380 Tons of explosives are "missing" in Iraq.
Dot #2: John D. Negroponte was appointed US Ambassador to Iraq in July.

OK, that's about all the dots I need. Weapons + Negroponte ...and only about a hundred miles from the Iran border.

Hmmmm. Why would Bush appoint John D. Negroponte to the most powerful position in Iraq? Because the "D" in John D. Negroponte stands for "Death Squad." Weapons are missing? It all makes perfect sense.

Here's what happened: During the glorious shock and awe bombing campaign (when the U.S. won the hearts of the Iraqis), a secret U.S. Special Ops Commando Unit moved the explosives to the good ol' U.S. Embassy-Baghdad. 380 tons of HMX and RDX are neatly stacked in Negroponte's garage awaiting the end of his eBay auction, whereby he'll ship it out to the winning death squad bidders. With nice clean cash (via Paypal), Death Squad Johny can buy other weapons and fund all sorts of covert contra-type activities.

Crazy? Not really. A few hundred tons of compact explosives will be pretty darn handy to have around while Negroponte is reshaping the mess in the middle east. If control of Iraq starts to slide toward people unfriendly to the Neocon fantasy scenario, ka-BOOM! No investigation needed--case closed. (Blame it on Zarqawi.)

The Bush administration hasn't technically even admitted the explosives are missing--they're "investigating." Rrrrriiiiiiiiigggght. The jig is up. Karl "Pigman" Rove has been tossing and turning in his sty for three nights trying to decide whether to keep the explosives hidden for future mischief or to order the commandos to bury them in a sand dune where they'll be "discovered" late Friday afternoon.

That's my conspiracy theory and I'm sticking to it!
.....

By the way, there sure wasn't much outrage when Negroponte was named the US ambassador to Iraq. Noam Chomsky noticed, but that was about it. From Central America to Iraq, by Noam Chomsky

Stories of Republican efforts to suppress votes are rampant. From their hiring of thousands of "poll monitors" to badger voters in Ohio to the mystery of the 58,000 missing absentee ballots in Florida, it's clear that Republicans plan to fight dirty. Why not? It worked in 2000.

From the Washington Post:

"Today's Republicans have elevated vote suppression from a dirty secret to a public norm.... By all accounts, Republicans are spending these last precious days devoting nearly as much energy to suppressing the Democratic vote as they are to mobilizing their own.

After four years in the White House, George W. Bush's most significant contribution to American life is this pervasive bitterness, this division of the house into raging, feuding halves. We are two nations now, each with a culture that attacks the other. And politics, as the Republicans are openly playing it, need no longer concern itself with the most fundamental democratic norm: the universal right to vote."

The GOP's Shameful Vote Strategy (washingtonpost.com)

BUSH IS SUDDENLY MUM ON 380 TONS OF MISSING EXPLOSIVES IN IRAQ

Statement by Kerry:
"What did the president have to say about the missing explosives? Not a word.  Complete silence.  Despite devastating evidence that his administration's failure here has put our troops and our citizens are in greater danger, George Bush has not offered a single word of explanation.  His silence confirms what I have been saying for months: President Bush rushed to war without a plan to win the peace.  He didn't have enough troops on the ground to get the job done.  He didn't have enough allies to get the job done. He failed to secure Iraq and keep it from becoming what it is today - a haven for terrorists."

Daily Kos :: Bush is suddenly mum

AP PHOTO

Whether you love him or love to hate him, there's no denying that Clinton presided over prosperous and peaceful times. Remember when the country enjoyed a $5.6 trillion budget surplus (completely squaundered by Bush), 23 million new jobs, and relied on diplomacy and international alliances rather than pre-emptive wars and going it alone?

Remember when the lies were personal sexual indescretions rather than lies that have taken the lives of over 1,100 US soldiers? I saw a bumpersticker the other day that said, "When Clinton lied, no one died." Yes, he should have been held accountable (and was--remember impeachment?) for his lies, but where is Bush's accountability? Has anyone been held accountable for the lies about WMD? For the stamp of approval given to torture at Abu Ghraib? For failing to secure 380 tons of explosives that are now being used against our soldiers in Iraq?

Here's a quote from the Big Dog:

A Kerry administration, he said, would bring back "a country and a world of shared responsibilities... where we co-operate when we can, and act alone only when we need to."

"From time to time I've been called the 'Comeback Kid'. In eight days, John Kerry is going to make America the Comeback Country."

CBS News | Clinton Hits The Trail For Kerry | October 25, 2004 22:25:37

380 tons of explosives--missing from Al Qaqaa in Iraq. Does anyone have an explanation? Is someone in charge? Dubya, Dick, Donald, Condi, Paul, Doug, Richard, John...? Anyone?



It's been about 24 hours since this story broke, and the Bush administration is still attempting to find someone to take the buck they're trying to pass. Bush, in a campaign speech today, stuck by his old line, "America and the world are safer with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell."

In eight days we can fire all eight of these idiots.


Yahoo! News - Tons of Explosives Missing in Iraq

Sparks of Hope...

The view west from atop House Mountain



from Ode to the West Wind

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,

Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

--Percy Bysshe Shelley

More photos from a hike up House Mountain, Tennessee (click to enlarge).
On the trail we met a cute little yellow dog pup named "Honey Bunch," pictured at the right.

More horrifying news from Iraq today:

A US State Department security officer was killed during a mortar attack on a US base.

Around 50 unarmed Iraqi soldiers were killed execution style as they were heading home on leave after basic training.

The soldiers were AmBUSHed, just as we all were about the rationale for going to war in the first place.


Yahoo! News - 50 Iraq Soldiers Apparent Ambush Victims